A new study published in the journal Proceedings of
the Royal Society B by the teams of Dr. Gregory West
(Assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal)
and Dr. Véronique Bohbot (Douglas Institute
researcher and associate Professor at McGill
University and the Douglas Research Institute of the
CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île de Montréal) shows that
while video game players (VGPs) exhibit more
efficient visual attention abilities, they are also
much more likely to use navigation strategies that
rely on the brain’s reward system (the caudate
nucleus) and not the brain’s spatial memory system
(the hippocampus). Past research has shown that
people who use caudate nucleus-dependent navigation
strategies have decreased grey matter and lower
functional brain activity in the hippocampus.
The effects of intense video gaming on the brain are
only beginning to be understood.
Playing action video games has some beneficial
impacts - faster response times and larger useful
field of vision for example. It’s also associated
with activity in parts of the brain that are linked
to rewards and habit formation and the type of
memory that helps us learn tasks like riding a bike.
The team tested gamers and non-gamers to see if they
used ‘response learning strategies’ or ‘spatial
strategies’ to navigate in a virtual reality test.
Spatial strategies mean we make a map of landmarks
in our brains and where they are in relation to each
other to work out where we are. Response learners on
the other hand memorise series of left and right
turns to make a route from A to B.
The study was conducted among a group of adult
gamers who were spending at least six hours per week
on this activity.
In a test with 26 gamers and 33 non gamers the team
found that gamers memorised specific routes to
navigate the virtual world 80% of the time; twice
that of non-gamers who were more reliant on
remembering landmarks in the virtual world and only
used response learning 42% of the time.
“For more than a decade now, research has
demonstrated that action video game players display
more efficient visual attention abilities, and our
current study has once again confirmed this notion,”
says first author Dr. Gregory West. “However, we
also found that gamers rely on the caudate-nucleus
to a greater degree than non-gamers. Past research
has shown that people who rely on caudate
nucleus-dependent strategies have lower grey matter
and functional brain activity in the hippocampus.
This means that people who spend a lot of time
playing video games may have reduced hippocampal
integrity, which is associated with an increased
risk of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s
disease.”
Because past research has shown video games as
having positive effects on attention, it is
important for future research to confirm that gaming
does not have a negative effect on the hippocampus.
Future research using neuroimaging will be necessary
to further qualify our current findings, and these
studies should investigate the direct effects of
specific video games on the integrity of the reward
system and hippocampus.
For more information
Greg L. West, Brandi Lee Drisdelle, Kyoko Konishi,
Jonathan Jackson, Pierre Jolicoeur, Veronique D.
Bohbot
Habitual action video game playing is associated
with caudate nucleus-dependent navigational
strategies.
MDN |